


Late Nights

by sarcasmartist



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Minor destructive tendencies, Self Confidence Issues, Training, shiro is just doing his best, vulnerable allura
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-23 05:44:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcasmartist/pseuds/sarcasmartist
Summary: Based on a prompt found on tumblr by whumpcity: https://illesty.tumblr.com/post/157138644446/another-langst-scenarioTo summarize it: Lance basically forces himself to train because he feels as though he's not as good as the rest of his teammates. He does it alone when everyone else has gone to bed, so when he injures himself badly, there's no one there to help him. His options are limited; wait for someone to find him, crawl to the nearest bedroom, or try and drag himself to the healing pods.----------Some of the original prompt is altered because honestly I felt like some of it was slightly ooc? It's barely noticable tbh but I wanted to try and characterize my favorite boy as best I could.I just wanna say it outright that this was not intended to be a ship fic. If you want to interpret it that way, that's cool, that's just not the way I originally wrote it. Regardless, I hope you enjoy.





	1. Black and Blue and Hurt All Over

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally just a one-off but my buddy mentioned that the ending of the first bit is too open so now it's 2 parts. I'm considering making this a series maybe but idk! Let me know what you think.

This was what, the third week in a row he'd been staying up late to train? So far so good, Lance supposed. At least it was routine now. He'd say his goodnights to everyone and wait until everyone was presumably asleep, or just in their own rooms. Then he'd slip out to the training deck, bayard in hand, and start drilling. Sharpshooting isn't really something that comes naturally, after all, you have to  _work_  for it, and keep your skills, well, sharp. Besides, he need to be able to better hold himself in a fight. In the battles so far, he'd been kind of a mess. Or at least, that was the vibe he was getting from the team. They always managed to take out more baddies or just endure tougher battles for a lot longer than him, and he was starting to feel like he was lagging behind in the combat department. Thus, this routine was born. No one would mind anyways, they weren't awake or in need of the room. No one even noticed that he was suppressing yawns at first. He liked to believe that he was just  _really_  good a suppressing yawns.

Today was one of his better days in the training room. He was progressing pretty well through the fight, taking down the sparring bots with ease. The patterns were always different, sure, but it felt rhythmic and familiar each time he started. The first couple rounds were always easy, just a warm up before the real action. He'd managed to get pretty far, and he was hoping that all this extra training was starting to pay off. He was going farther and farther, and his confidence was building. He started to experiment, trying to trick the bots into hitting each other, tripping them, confusing them. It was becoming a bit of a game. It was kind of fun now, rather than an obligation or a chore.

That is, until the last bot in one of the rounds grabbed his weapon. They grappled, and Lance managed to hit the bot in the head with the butt of his gun. He wrenched it from the bot's hands while it was stunned, but he became unbalanced. The bot must have seen this, because the next thing he knew, he heard something crack and he felt a sharp pain shoot through his leg, and down he went. He fell in a heap on the matted floor, the air forced out of his lungs. He cried out in pain, but the bot did not halt. He managed to shoot it in the head, effectively dispatching it, before dropping his gun and curling up on the mat. He yelled at the castle to stop the simulation as he gripped his knee. His teeth were gritted as he tried to swallow his cries of pain and tears started flowing from the corners of his eyes. The pain was excruciating, and his entire leg was on fire. It was definitely his knee that much he could tell. He just didn't know the extent of the damage. Was it sprained? Broken? Quiznac, this was probably gonna mean time in the healing pods. Everyone would ask questions. What would he even say? He curled up further into himself, sobbing from the pain.

He wasn't sure how long he had been laying there on the floor, but it felt like an eternity. Lance knew that he needed to get into a healing pod, preferably sooner rather than later. He tried to stand, using his gun to balance him, but he crumpled as soon as he put weight on his hurt leg. After several more unsuccessful tries, he sat on the floor. He really didn't want to have to get help, but he also didn't want to wit here all night and hope that someone eventually finds him or comes looking. He couldn't walk, but he could crawl. No, that was too demeaning, especially considering the situation. Perhaps he could...

Using his hands and his good leg, Lance pushed himself backward toward the door. He only slid a tiny bit, but that was all he needed. He repeated the motion over and over again, slowly making his was across the training deck. Sure, this was a pretty embarrassing way to have to move about, but the other alternative was army crawling across the castle to the healing pods. This was going to be way more fun. He scooted across the training deck, gaining a bit of speed every now and then and sliding. There were a couple times when he lost his balance or tugged on his bad leg, but it was surprisingly smooth sailing all things considering. He knew that he was close to the doorway, so he did one last big push, hoping to end up in the hallway and maybe rest for a minute. However, he instead scooted back into something solid. He turned his head, expecting to see a wall, but to his dismay he locked eyes with Shiro. His arms were crossed and he had an eyebrow raised. Lance's face paled, but he tried to flash the black paladin a goofy grin to throw him off.

"Um, Lance? What are you doing?"

"Oh, you know," Lance replied, trying to play it cool, "Just chillin'"

"In the middle of the night? On the training deck?" Shiro glanced at Lance's bayard, which had revered back into it's crescent like form. "With your bayard?"

Lance sighed in defeat, "Fine, I was doing some training before bed. I... I couldn't sleep." Shiro looked at him, his expression neutral. The blue paladin couldn't read him or guess what he was thinking, but he knew that Shiro wasn't stupid. There was a reason he was here, after all.

"Is that all you were doing?" Shiro studied his face intently, and then knelt down. They were level with each other, a move Shiro definitely intended. Lance wished he had just stayed standing. "Your eyes are all... Have you been crying, Lance? Did something happen?"

"No, I'm just, I'm tired. It's fine. I'll clean up here and go to bed, okay?" Lance looked away from his leader, the man he looked up to for so many years before he even joined the Garrison. He was too embarrassed to say anything, even if he did need the help.

"Okay, if you say so," Shiro said. He stood back up and then reached down a hand. "Here, come on, I'll help." Lance felt the blood drain from his face. He needed Shiro to  _leave_ , not to do this. He honestly thought he would have, just shrugged it off and gone to bed. Voltron's leader seemed to have a knack for shrugging certain things-or people-off. Lance was  _counting_  on it this time. But this was the one time it didn't happen. "Lance?" The blue paladin stared at the floor in front of him, his arms crossed protectively over his chest. He didn't respond. "Are you okay?" Lance shook his head. "Did you get hurt while training?" Lance nodded. "What did you hurt?" He gestured to his knee. He heard Shiro sigh behind him. Lance felt the black paladin sit down beside him, but he still didn't look at him.

"What's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't understand why you're being so... avoidant. You usually enjoy talking." Lance could tell the last statement was meant to be a joke, but it rubbed him the wrong way.

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Lance-"

"Please, just don't."

"I won't help you to the healing pod if you don't tell me what happened." This caught Lance's attention. He looked at the black paladin to see if he was bluffing or not. He couldn't tell. Shiro wouldn't just  _leave_  him here, would he?

Would he?

"Fine," the blue paladin huffed, not wanting to risk it, "you win." He pretended not to see the slight victorious smirk that appeared on Shiro's face. "I've been coming to the training deck every night for the last few weeks before bed to practice."

"That's nothing to be embarrassed about, Lance," Shiro said, "In fact, I admire your initiative."

"It is when you're only here because you're not good enough..." Lance shifted slightly in his spot. He didn't want to have this conversation. He just wanted to go to the healing pod and call it a night. He wanted to curl up in a ball and die of shame on the training deck floor. But he couldn't do any of those things. He was stuck, and he  _hated_  it. He tensed up when he a felt a heavy hand rest on his shoulder. Even through his shirt, he could still feel the cold metal of Shiro's prosthetic on his skin. It almost made him shiver.

"Lance," Shiro began softly, "Why on  _Earth_  would you think that?"

"Really? You honestly-" Lance cut himself off, scoffing, "I guess you really don't realize."

"What do you mean?

"Everyone on the team has come so far since we started, and they're constantly getting praise. Everyone listens to each other's input on stuff except mine. It always gets brushed off or you guys just don't wanna  _listen!_  I have to keep proving myself over and over again, and I'm sick of it. I want to train hard so that I don't have to prove myself anymore, so that I can be just as good and valuable as everyone else on the team."

"Lance-"

"Even Hunk feels like this sometimes. He's talked to me about it a couple times because, you know, we're best buds, and it hurts to see him like that. The way you fawn over Pidge and Keith-"

"Lance-"

"Coran's the only one here that  _listens._  He takes me seriously and doesn't treat me like I'm less important than anyone else. I'm grateful for him and all, don't get me wrong, but it still just sucks that none of you even  _try-_ "

" _Lance_ ," Shiro's voice had increased in volume, and was slightly authoritative now. It was enough to make Lance sit up straight, and he nearly saluted. It was like being back in the Garrison all over again, except Iverson wasn't there. Lance would take Shiro over Iverson any day. "Oh, I didn't mean to-never mind. I want to say I'm sorry I've made you feel that way."

"...what?"

"I didn't realize you felt that way. I just wish you had told me sooner. You know, before you..." The black paladin gestured to Lance's leg. It almost made Lance laugh. "But I just hope that if you, or anyone for that matter, feels like I'm doing this to them, I want to know. You, Pidge, Hunk and I only met the day we left Earth in your lion, but I've really grown to love this team. I want us to be close, and to know and understand each other. Be like, well, a little family of sorts." Lance perked up at the word "family." This brought a smile to Shiro's face.

"I do too," Lance said. He glanced down at the floor for a moment, trying to find the right words to say. After a few moments passed, he looked back up at his leader. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything. I guess I was just... scared, and embarrassed. I didn't want you to look down on me more than I thought you already did. And, I don't know, I guess I still get kind of nervous around you."

"Why?" The last statement seemed to intrigue Shiro greatly. Lance instantly regretted ever saying anything, this was ten times more embarrassing than the other stuff they had just discussed.

"I get starstruck, okay!" Lance buried his face in his hands, "You were, like, my  _hero_  when I was younger and kind of one of the reasons why I joined the Garrison okay there!"

"Aww,  _Lance_ ," Shiro said through a very obvious grin. Lance couldn't see it but he could definitely hear it. It also sounded like he was trying to stifle a laugh.

"Why did I even tell you this?"

"I can't believe I helped inspire you to become a pilot!"

"I want to die."

"That's adorable and kind of humbling, actually."

"Please God just let the ground swallow me whole."

"Okay,  _okay_ , I'll stop now," Shiro chuckled, "Let's get you to the medbay, huh?"

"Whatever," Lance huffed. His face had taken on a reddish hue and he refused to make eye contact with the other paladin. Hadn't he suffered enough humiliation for one day? Apparently not. He felt Shiro put his arm underneath his shoulders. The black paladin shifted into a crouch of sorts, and Lance put his arm over Shiro's shoulders.

"Alright, I'm going to stand you up, but it might hurt. You ready?" Lance nodded in reply, bracing himself. Shiro's free hand went to the arm draped over his shoulder, holding it firmly in place. He started to stand up, and Lance tried to suppress the hiss of pain as he accidentally put pressure on his knee again. He felt Shiro falter for a moment, but after several seemingly interminable moments, they were standing upright. Lance leaned heavily onto Shiro, but it didn't seem to bother him a bit. The pods were a few minutes away from the training deck when walking normally, something that they were not currently doing. There was silence as they passed through the halls of the castle. Lance adjusted himself several times, trying to take some weight off of Shiro.

"Are you okay?" the black paladin asked after another adjustment, "Am I hurting you?"

"No, no, you're fine," Lance replied quickly, "I just, uh, am I heavy? I'm kind of putting a lot of my weight on you and I feel bad."

"Don't worry about it, you're pretty light."

"Wait, really?" A pause. "Shiro?

"Yes?"

"Last I checked I weighed around 150 pounds."

"O...kay?" Shiro gave him an odd sideways glance. Lance decided to drop it. They walked in silence for a minute or so before Shiro spoke again. "Lance?"

"Yeah?"

"You're a very skilled shooter, and it seemed like you were doing pretty well in there on your own before you got hurt. I know I can't stop you from staying up late and drilling yourself, but I just want you to be more careful next time, and to know your limits. Don't push yourself too far, we still need our sharpshooter." Lance was unable to find something to say. There was a pause while the black paladin waited for a response, but when none came, he continued. "I also just want to say that it wouldn't be a bad idea to have someone to train with. If something like this happens again, or God forbid something worse, the last thing you need is to be alone. So if you plan on doing this, just tell me. I don't mind sitting on the sidelines or, if you want me to, training with you. Okay?" Lance looked up at his leader and nodded, a soft smile on his face.

"Thanks, Shiro," he said quietly, "It means a lot."

After spending the night in the healing pod, Lance decided to take it easy for a bit. He went to bed when everyone else did and kept himself well rested. The first time he decided to take Shiro up on his offer, he was a little nervous, but Voltron's leader smiled and told him he'd be happy to help. Lance felt infinitely better having someone to coach him and fight beside him on those late nights. Some nights it would be Shiro asking Lance to come down to the training deck for a bit, which made the blue paladin grin from ear to ear the first time it happened. They got to a point where they could tell when the other wanted to meet up, giving each other an unspoken message at the dinner table or when they were walking through the halls. Often times it would be after a particularly stressful mission or on a bad day for Shiro's panic attacks. One would give the other a look, the other would respond with a small nod, and they'd meet after everyone retired to their rooms. It was a good system, and a good way for both paladins to not only keep their skills sharp, but to bond with one another and de-stress.

After Shiro disappeared, Lance found himself simultaneously drawn to and avoiding the training deck. There were nights when he would go in and train furiously for hours and hours without stopping, and the next day he'd be completely exhausted. But there were also nights when he found himself standing and just staring at the door, completely still and unable to bring himself to open the door. He didn't realize just how much he missed Shiro until those nights came.

On one particular night when he was training, a dangerously beautiful hail of blue gunfire on the training deck, he fell. He misstepped and hit the training deck floor, hard. The bot he was fighting used this opportunity to try and pin him with its staff. Lance just barely managed to raise his gun in time to block the staff, but he struggled to push the bot away. He was in a bad place and his head was still spinning from hitting the floor and having the wind knocked out of him. He managed to land a kick on its abdomen, temporarily stunning it and giving him a chance to scoot away. He scrambled to his feet and went to go fire off a shot when the staff connected with his shoulder. The hit caused him to pull the trigger, and the shot hit the wall. He returned the favor by using the butt of his rifle to slam downwards on the bot's shoulder, sending it onto the floor. The bot, unphased, connected a hit to the blue paladin's knee, eliciting a cry of pain from him. He shot it in the head without a second thought, and called for the castle to stop the training.

He limped toward the door, trying to drag his now bad knee along with him. His shoulder still burned from that earlier hit and he was so  _dizzy_. His whole body was screaming, the adrenaline starting to wear off as he moved slowly down the darkened halls of the castle. The fatigue was catching up with him after going for so long. It all felt so familiar, memories of that first night when he hurt his leg flooding through his mind. All he could think about was the only real difference between this night and that one was that there was no one was here to help him this time. He was all alone.


	2. Of Duty and Vulnerability

Lance was certain everyone was asleep, which is why he didn't try to call for help. His head was spinning and his heart was racing at a million miles an hour. He leaned heavily on the castle walls as he limped slowly towards the med bay. He hoped he didn't pass out before then. He could have a concussion or something, and falling asleep with a head injury was extremely dangerous, especially considering no one would even know to look for him until later in the morning. But it was difficult, and between the pain in his leg and the heaviness of his eyelids, he just wanted to stop and lay down.

That's when he heard the footsteps. They were quiet at first, but then picked up speed. He looked behind him to see a person he definitely did not expect; Princess Allura was rushing towards him, a concerned look on her face. Without hesitation, she put one of his arms around her shoulders and began to support his body weight, relieving some of the pressure on his leg.

"Hey Princess," he slurred, a playful smirk appearing on his face, "I thought you'd be getting you beauty sleep, though it's not like you need it."

She rolled her eyes and huffed, starting them off in the direction of the healing pods. "Lance, I really don't think now is the time for that. What happened to you? Is someone in the castle? Should I wake the others?"

"No, no-" Lance's tone quickly became serious again, not wanting to cause alarm, "No one's here. I was training and I messed up. No biggie."

"No biggie?" She parroted back incredulously, "I'm not entirely certain what that means but you seem to be seriously hurt."

"It's nothing that hasn't happened before Princess, don't sweat it," Lance flashed her a grin, "Though I wouldn't mind a little assistance to the pods."

"Looks like you're going to need more than a  _little,_ " Allura replied, "Lance, what  _happened?"_

"I told you, I was training," Lancse said a little too quickly, "I messed up, nothing unusual."

"Are you certain? I can't help but disagree. You seem to have greatly improved in combat, I wouldn't say you messing up is usual."

"Wait, really? You... You think I've improved?"

"Of course, it's quite obvious. But that is not what's important right now. You seem to be avoiding the question, Lance."

"Am I?"

" _Lance._ "

"Sorry, Princess," Lance sighed, "I started training a while ago to help me improve, and this sort of thing kind of happened one night, and Shiro found me."

"He  _found_  you?" There was alarm in the Princess's voice, mixed with concern.

"Yeah, he walked in and saw me hurt. We talked, and then we would train together a lot. It was actually really... Nice. It felt good. We got close. And then when he vanished, I started going to train on my own. It helped when I got frustrated or just... When I miss him. I don't know." He looked down at his feet, suddenly very uncomfortable.

"Lance..."

"I'll be fine, don't worry about it. I just wanna heal up and go to sleep, okay? I'm sorry if I woke you up and sorry for making you drag me around." He wanted the conversation to end. He was tired and in pain. The healing pods weren't even very far now, but the distance still felt interminable.

"Have you gotten hurt since Shiro's been gone?" There was only silence as a response. "Have you?" Silence again. "Lance, please, answer me." Lance gave her a small and reluctant nod. "Quiznak Lance!"

"Princess,  _please._  I'm  _fine._ " Lance kept walking, trying to pick up the pace. However, Allura resisted, to Lance's surprise.

"Lance, listen to me for a moment." Allura stopped walking, shifting for a moment. Lance looked at her, nervous. There were a lot of things that she could be about to say. He felt extremely uneasy in that small moment of silence as the Altean gathered her words. "I know we haven't always had the best relationship, but I have grown to really care about you and the other paladins. I can see how greatly Shiro's disappearance affected all of you, and Coran and I have been dealing with our own share of grief over him. We miss him dearly, and we both understand what it's like to lose people close to us. But doing this is not healthy, Lance. You can't keep getting hurt like this and not telling anyone. You need to rest, and face your frustrations rather than try to take them out on the training deck. You need to heal, and let go. You will never get or feel any better if you keep doing things like this.

After a long silence, Lance looked up at the Princess. "Does it really help? Did... Did it help you?"

"It does." There was a wistful sort of look on Allura's face, but she pushed it away with a reassuring smile. "It's good to grieve, but you cannot grieve forever. I miss my planet, my people, and my father every single day, but I push on because I know that they would want me to. I do what I do because I must, for the sake of my people and the universe. There are days when it is especially difficult. I would give  _anything_  just to see my father one last time, but..." Her voice wavered. For the first time, Allura actually looked  _vulnerable._  She always seemed so strong and confident, and willing to make all these difficult decisions all the time. But in this moment, she looked so sad and just like the rest of the paladins-a teenager thrust into something they weren't really ready for.

"Allura," Lance said, his voice soft, "You know, all that stuff you just said to me? I think you should take your own advice."

"What?"

"You're obviously hurting, but you just... I know that you're kind of the leader of all of us here, being a Princess and all, but you're also just a kid. I think we're all guilty of forgetting that sometimes. You need to give yourself a break, man. I know if feels like the weight of the universe rests on your shoulders, but we're all here right beside you. We care about you."

"Thank you." Allura smiled, her eyes glistening slightly. "The same to you, Lance. Everyone loves you, I promise. You are a paladin of Voltron. The lions chose you. Remember that." The blue paladin stayed quiet. There were a million things he wanted to say, but the words wouldn't come.

They walked towards the pods after that in silence. They didn't say anything as Allura set up a pod or when Lance went inside, but before he was put into the sleep-like state, Allura gave him a little wave. When he woke up, he assumed it was at least several hours later because the Princess had fallen asleep against the side of the pod. She looked a lot more peaceful than she had when she was awake earlier, something that made him feel relieved. As Lance watched her for a moment, he couldn't help but smile, thinking about his little cousins falling asleep when they would watch movies together on the couch. He decided to try and return the favor, by gently picking her up and carrying her back to her room.

She stirred slightly when he initially was trying to pick her up, but he quickly shushed her back to sleep. He walked slowly through the darkened halls of the castle, making certain to keep a solid grip on the sleeping Altean without interrupting her sleep. When he did finally reach her room, he placed her down on the bed softly, with the utmost care, and tucked her in. A pang of homesickness shot through his chest as he pulled the blankets over her sleeping form, but still, he smiled.

Without a word, he vanished back to his own quarters. He figured there probably wasn't much time left in the night cycle and whatever sleep he would get from here on out would definitely not feel like enough. However, as he laid on his bed, his hands resting under his head and elbows pointed outwards, he felt a lot better than he had since Shiro had disappeared. He was glad that he and Allura were finally starting to get to know each other on a more personal level, and that she had let him see that side of her. As his eyes fluttered shut and sleep began to come over him, he told himself that he'd hold off on the training for a little while and just let himself rest. He deserved it.


	3. Panic! In The Bunk

It was dark, even after Lance opened his eyes. He sat up in his bunk slowly, going to rub at his heavy eyelids before he remembered he still had his face mask on. It was a deathly silence that enveloped the room, which was cause for a small amount of confusion. He could have  _sworn_  he heard something, which was the only reason he would wake up at what was likely a rather ungodly hour of the night. 

 _Knock knock._  

Two very small knocks came from his door. Lance swung his legs over the side of the bed onto the cool floor. He stood up and arched his back, stretching and letting out a rather loud yawn.

_Knock knock knock._

Lance padded to the door, rolling his eyes. Whoever it was needed to give him a minute. It was the middle of the night, and now, as per his new routine, he was in bed at the scheduled time instead of staying up late training, relaxing and sleeping for a nice, long 8 hours. He flicked on the light, wincing and squinting his eyes while they adjusted to the flood of light in the room.

_Knock kno-_

The second knock was cut off by Lance opening the door and staring irritably out into the hallway so that whoever it was would feel slightly guilty for waking him up for what was likely no good reason. After all, there were no alarms blaring and if it was really an emergency, they could have just waltzed on in and gotten right into whatever they were going to say. He instantly regretted it when he realized it was a shaken looking Hunk standing in his doorway. Without a word Lance ushered him into the room and sat him down on his bunk, taking a seat beside him.

"What happened buddy? Everything okay?" Lance put his hand on his best friend's shoulder, and could feel him trembling like a leaf. His eyes were glistening and it looked like he was going to be sick. Hunk only shook his head no, and his hands began to grip his knees for support. This wasn't the first time Lance had seen Hunk like this, but it had been a while. 

"It's okay, Hunk, you're safe here," Lance said softly, starting to rub circles into his friend's back, "You're okay, just take deep breathes bud, okay? Can you do that for me?" Hunk closed his eyes for a moment before taking in a deep breath. He held it in for one, two, three, and then let it out slowly. "Good job, you're doing great, alright. Keep doing that, okay? I'll be right here the whole time, I promise. Do you need quiet right now or do you want me to keep talking?" 

"Can you..." Hunk was struggling with his words, "can you talk?"

"Can I?" Lance parroted back lightly, "If you asked that around Keith and Pidge they would groan so hard, man." He saw a small smile appear on Hunk's face for a brief moment. "Hey buddy, have I ever told you about that one time my cousins tried to make garlic knots to cheer me up one day?" Hunk shook his head. 

"Oh man, I can't believe this never came up! Geez, this is probably one of the cutest disasters that I've ever seen. Okay, so one day during exams I was honestly a mess. Barely slept, living on coffee, my spirit definitely broken. You know how that feels man. But anyways, my little cousins, bless their hearts, they saw I was a dead man walking and decided to take it upon themselves to try and make me feel better by making my favorite food, garlic knots. This wouldn't be an issue if my cousins were older than 11 and had adult supervision, but this was not the case. Somehow, they managed to put together some kind of dough made of God knows what, dumped a bunch of garlic on it, and shoved the batch into the oven. Fast forward an hour. I walk into the kitchen and it's  _filled_  with smoke. I rush over to the oven, open the door, and immediately inhale a ton of smoke. I'm panicking now because I swore I saw some kind of orange glow on the little pieces of charcoal on a pan in the oven, so I gotta get them out, right? Well, in my sleep deprived state of wisdom, I act on the one instinct I shouldn't have."

"Oh no," Hunk whispers. Lance can see that his best friend had realized exactly what happened next. 

"Oh yes. I grabbed the pan with my bare hand and yanked it out of the oven. It was like a cartoon man, I didn't realize that it was burning me until about three seconds of holding the stupid thing in my hand. I dropped it on the floor, and I swear, I have never been more awake in my entire life than I was in that moment."

"Quiznack, Lance," Hunk says shaking his head slightly.

"But wait, there's more."

"Wait, really?"

"Oh yeah. There's more." Hunk is looking at Lance intently, now invested in the story. Just as Lance intended.  "So I'm in the kitchen, now yelling very loudly. This causes several family members to come running, including my little cousins. There's a lot of talking and yelling back and forth, my hand is starting to blister, and the kitchen is  _still_  filled with smoke. My mama, my uncle, and my grandma are all yelling at me half in Spanish, thinking that I'm the one who did this. I'm trying to explain that I didn't cook anything, and to please take me to a doctor for my blistering hand. That's when I notice my little cousins are trying to slip away, and have been just a little too quiet. So that's when I figured out that they were the ones behind this whole thing. Now, I'm tired, I have exams the next day, and my hand is covered in second degree burns, so I was kind of in a bad mood. I straight up just redirected all the blame and arguing to my cousins. Eventually, they explain that they were just trying to cheer me up, and they just got distracted, and I did feel bad for throwing them under the bus so hard, but they learned a very important lesson that day."

"Not to cook alone? Adult supervision is a good thing?" Hunk asked.

"Nope," Lance replied, "how to identify and bandage a second degree burn." 

"Wow."

"Yeah. Had to take exams like that for the rest of the week too."

"Yikes man, that  _sucks._ "

"Oh, it did, like big time, but it's the thought that counts, you know?" Lance flashes a fond smile, remembering how he thanked and forgave his little cousins later that day. He could never stay mad at them, especially not for that. He missed them. "So, Hunk, are you feeling better?"

Hunk had his hands now loosely clasped together in his lap, and his whole body seemed to have relaxed while Lance had been sharing his story. He nodded, staring down at his lap.

"Do you want to talk about it, or do you just want to hang out for a while?"

"I... I had a nightmare," Hunk said, somewhat reluctantly, "I don't really remember a lot of it, honestly. I just remember feeling so alone and so afraid, and I..." Lance saw tears welling up in his best friend's eyes, and he put his hand on his shoulder to comfort and ground him. 

"It's okay, Hunk, it was a dream. You're okay now."

"Am I? Are  _we?"_  Hunk looked at Lance with an intensity that was new to the yellow paladin's face. "Lance, we're fighting in a war against a giant alien empire we didn't know existed not that long ago. We never even finished school, but we're still expected to save the entire universe. We're teenagers, Lance. This is just... I mean, I... Do you think we can actually do this?"

Lance opened his mouth to respond, but the question really struck him. They were a great team, and they only seemed to be getting stronger with each battle they fought. Every time they won, he felt like he was invincible, and could do anything. Seeing all the people they helped free from the Galra's grasp made him feel so proud of what him and team Voltron were able to do, and made all the hard work and the struggles they faced on the daily feel worth it. But there were also times when he felt the weight of their burden on his shoulders in full, and times when everything just seemed so hopeless. They were just kids, after all. They  _didn't_ finish school, and they were the worst in their class at that. So much of what had happened could likely be chalked up to sheer dumb luck. None of them had any idea when that was going to run out. Maybe it already did. 

"Honestly Hunk?" Hunk looked Lance in the eyes. The blue paladin had two choices in that moment; he could tell the honest truth, or he could say what he knew would make his friend feel better. And in that moment, he hesitated on which one to go with. His heart told him to say one thing while his brain said another. "I don't know." In that moment, his heart won. 

"I don't have an answer for you. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, or the next day. You're right, we didn't finish school, we're just teenagers suddenly thrown into this mess. Every day, I'm terrified of what might happen out there, who else we could loose..." He paused, taking in a shakey breath. Their missing leader's image flashed through his mind. "But it's not like we can just give up. We can't just  _stop,_  y'know? We're team Voltron. We're paladins, chosen by magical space lions. No one else can stop the Galra. No one else  _will._  So I don't know if we can do it, but I know that I'm going to at least give it my best shot." 

The silence in the room was heavy after the blue paladin finished speaking. Both teens looked down at the floor, deep in thought. Lance swallowed. He regrets telling Hunk the truth. What he needed right then was reassurance, not more worry. God, this was probably one of the reasons why the Black Lion didn't want him. He felt like an asshole, dumping all that on his friend who just woke up from a nightmare and had a panic attack. He was pulled from his thoughts when he felt Hunk bring him into a gentle hug. This surprised Lance, but he hugged back after a tick. 

"Thank you for being honest," Hunk murmured, "You're a good friend, Lance." Lance was unable to speak. There were times when talking was necessary. Hunk liked to listen to him tell stories during panic attacks to help him focus on something other than his fears and ground him. But there were also times when it's not, and this was one of them. Lance hugged Hunk tight, grateful for his presence. Though the initial circumstances that brought the yellow paladin to his room weren't the best, he was glad that they were able to talk. They both needed it.

As Lance and Hunk sat in the blue paladin's bunk late that night cycle, neither one had to say another thing. There was comfort in knowing someone else was just as scared as they were. There was comfort in the fact that the two best friends were in this together, whether they liked it or not. Though they didn't know what kind of horrors they would face when then woke up the next day, they knew that they would be able to face them with their best friend by their side. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure how I feel about this one but I love Hunk so. The ending feels shakey but Hunk's anxiety needs to be addressed in canon God dammit. Decided that I'm going to one of these for each of the characters in the main cast, and YES that absolutely means a Coran chapter. I'm going to try and get the next chapter up soon, but I've got school now so it might take a bit!  
> Next up, our favorite nerd bird ;)


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